The research of Dr. David Heeger, of New York University, spans an interdisciplinary cross-section of engineering, psychology, mathematics, computer science, and neuroscience. By combining computational theory with the ability to measure brain activity, he and his team are able to quantitatively investigate the relationship between the brain and human behavior. Much like the algorithms that allow computers to process, the neurons in our brains perform computations, which underlies everything that we do, and how we do it. Therefore, computational theory has given scientists a powerful approach for understanding how the brain supports its many functions. Computational theory is also a powerful approach for understanding psychiatric illnesses, neurological diseases, and developmental disorders, all of which can be characterized as dysfunctions of neural computations. Dr. Heeger's research is likely to provide insight about Autism, about vision and visual awareness, as well as continued development of computational models of brain function and dysfunction.

As a vocal critic of established paradigms, Dr. Heeger has pioneered new directions for the fields he works in. His innovation has been recognized by being elected into the National Academy of Sciences nearly a decade younger than average and by the David Marr Prize in computer vision, among other awards. His varied projects are made possible by an established track record of international and interdisciplinary collaborations; Dr. Heeger has collaborated with over 30 leaders in their respective fields at academic institutions all over the world, including Cambridge, Oxford, Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon University, and more. In short, through the creative weaving of psychology, neuroscience, engineering, and computation science, Dr. Heeger is beginning to understand the various computations brain circuits are able to perform.

Current research includes:

• Autism: Dr. Heeger is testing the idea that generic, brain-wide circuit malfunctions are at the root of autism. Using a combination of behavioral experiments and functional brain imaging experiments with people, and electrophysiology experiments in mouse models of autism, he and his team have found that brain activity is less reliable in autism. Dr. Heeger's research may lead to the development of therapies for core and secondary symptoms of autism.

• Neuroimaging: Dr. Heeger uses functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to quantitatively investigate the relationship between brain and behavior. He and his team use fMRI, MEG, and EEG to measure the timing and amplitude of brain activity, for testing computational theories of the neural processing underlying cognition and perception. Dr. Heeger's research sheds light upon visual awareness, visual pattern detection/discrimination, visual motion perception, stereo depth perception, attention, working memory, the control of eye and hand movements, and neural processing of complex audio-visual and emotional experiences (movies, music, narrative).

• Computational Neuroscience: A variety of anatomical, physiological, and behavioral evidence suggests that the brain performs computations using modules that are repeated across species, brain areas, and modalities. Dr. Heeger's research is elucidating the canonical computational principles of brain function.